Report calls for residential coal consumption cap in China

The amount of coal used by residential buildings in China should be capped at 230 million tonnes by 2020, China Daily reported, citing a report released by Beijing Jiaotong University.

"Green buildings and renewable energy are the right answers to improve housing energy efficiency in cities and rural areas respectively," said Liu Jing, associate professor at the university.

Liu said that 50% of newly-built houses in urban areas were expected to meet green building standards, while 15% of rural houses will have adopted energy saving measures by 2020.

Energy generated by biomass, solar, hydropower and wind will surpass the 100 million tonnes of standard coal in rural areas, added Liu.

Heating from coal burning in winter is one of the major reasons for air pollution plaguing northern China.

Early this year, the country pledged to cut coal production capacity by 150 million tonnes in 2017, with the capital Beijing aiming to eliminate the use of coal by the end of this year.

Through transforming the heating system of existing buildings by 2020, 70% of houses in 26 cities in Heibei, Henan, Shandong, Shanxi provinces as well as Beijing and Tianjin will adopt central heating fueled by clean energy. Coal will only make up 30% of energy used for winter heating in rural areas in the above regions, according to Liu.

(Writing by Jessie Jia Editing by Harry Huo) For any questions, please contact us by inqury@fwenergy.com or +86-351-7219322.

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